Thread by @MigrantFreedom

BREAKING:

Our National Detention Hotline received a disturbing call from a Black immigrant in an ICE prison who had experienced physical abuse at the hands of the guards.

Hotline volunteers acted quickly to file a civil rights complaint on his behalf.

In an interview, our Director of Visitation Advocacy Strategies, Sofia Casini, highlighted the connection between the abuse of Black immigrants in ICE prison with abuse at the hands of law enforcement.

Casini stated, "Our nation just went through a year of examining the ways people in authority harm Black people while claiming, 'I was at risk. This person was a threat' — people who are Black and unarmed and at their mercy."

She added, "I would ask what justification they had that they felt there was a risk....It's not acceptable that Black immigrants in [immigration detention] are left to suffer this level of violence because others state that they were afraid."

To read the full interview, go to: miaminewtimes.com/news/report-ha…

Casini also spoke with the @MiamiHerald, saying, “We know that many who bravely come forward, like [Herby Yves] Pierre-Gilles, are retaliated against. They’re placed in solitary confinement, transferred,...or...deported so that their testimony does not see the light of day."

Pierre-Gilles added, "One of the biggest issues that [is] usually swept under the rug and hardly ever brought to the public’s attention is the physical abuse and mistreatment us immigrants received by the hands of the same government officials who took oaths to protect us...

...I pray and hope that my situation will be brought to the public’s attention so that a change can be made for the better.”

To read the full piece in the @MiamiHerald go to: miamiherald.com/news/nation-wo…